The present invention relates to an editing apparatus for editing data recorded consecutively with respect to time on a recording medium such as a magneto-optical disc etc. recorded with management information for managing data recording and playback operations by updating this management information.
In recent years, various recording media and recording/playback apparatus have been disclosed, with, for example, typical "minidisc" (trademark) systems where a user freely records audio data etc. on a recording medium becoming widespread.
In the case of, for example, a minidisc system, management information known as a user TOC (hereinafter referred to as U-TOC) is recorded separately from the main data such as audio in order to data recorded regions of the disc that have been recorded by the user and un-used recordable regions that have not-yet been recorded (hereinafter referred to as "free areas"). The recording apparatus then determines recordable regions while referring to this U-TOC and the playback apparatus determines recorded regions while referring to the U-TOC.
Recorded Programs are managed at the U-TOC and start address and end address of the each program are managed at the U-TOC information. The start and end addresses of free areas that are not-yet recorded with anything are also listed to be used in the recording of data thereafter.
Editing of recording data such as linking between programs and partitioning a single program etc. can be carried out by updating management data on the U-TOC.
Editing processes such as, for example, a divide function for dividing one program into a plurality of programs, a combine function for linking a plurality of programs as one program, a move function for changing program numbers given in response to the playback program order and a delete function (referred to as an erase function) for deleting unnecessary programs can then be executed in a simple and rapid manner.
The user can then utilize these functions so as to edit one or a plurality of programs recorded once on the disc and gain enjoyment from making an individual original disc.
However, there were practical difficulties in related editing processing carried out basically using program units.
For example, in the case of recording original broadcasts, audio such as narrations or audio signals for commercials are recorded together before and after songs and there are cases where it is wished to erase these unnecessary narration and commercial portions. Further, there are also cases where when, for example, there is a program of an introduction, first part, second part, third part and ending, it may be wished to cut the third part to give the order of introduction, first part, second part ending.
Namely, there are many cases where just one part of a program is cut but at this time the editing operation is complicated.
FIG. 1A to FIG. 1F shows the operating procedure for the case where it is wished to erase a portion of a program.
A disc is considered where three songs of program TK1, TK2 and TK3 are already recorded as shown in FIG. 1A. This drawing is an image showing the data recording region of the disc taken as a belt shape along the radial direction. Here, TK1, TK2, TK3 . . . correspond to program numbers given to the programs.
A description will now be given where the user wishes to erase a portion of the program TK2 given inclined lines in FIG. 1B.
In this case, as shown in FIG. 1C, divide processing is carried out at the start point of the section to be deleted and the program TK2 is divided into two items of a program TK2 and a program TK3. Thereafter, the program 3 up to this point is moved up and managed as program TK4.
Next, as shown in FIG. 1D, a divide edit is performed on the point at the end of the section to be erased and program TK3 is divided in two programs of the program TK3 and program TK4. The program TK4 up to this point is then moved down and managed as program TK5.
At this time just the section it is wished to erase is managed as the program TK3 and a delete edit is carried out for the program TK3 as shown in FIG. 1E so that the portion for the program TK3 is managed as a free area. The diagonal line portion of FIG. 1B is therefore erased. The programs TK4 and TK5 accompanying up to this point are then moved up and managed as program TK3 and program TK4.
Next, combine editing of program TK2 and program TK3 is carried out, as shown in FIG. 1F, i.e. program TK2 and program TK3 at the time shown in FIG. 1E are taken as the parts TK2-.sub.1 and TK2-.sub.2 comprising the program TK2 with management conditions being adopted where the parts TK2-.sub.1 and TK2-.sub.2 are played back consecutively at the time of playing back the program TK2 as shown by the playback operation PB.sub.TK2 of the lower part.
At this time, the editing that was the initial object, i.e. editing where just the inclined portion of the program TK2 in FIG. 1B is cut, is complete.
As becomes clear from the above description, the operation for this kind of editing consists of two partitioning processes, a delete process and a link process, and is extremely complicated.
In order to take into consideration the aforementioned problems, it is the object of the present invention to achieve editing functions capable of performing accurate editing as desired by the user using simple operations when it is just wished to erase one portion of a program.